The twin towers of the Bahrain World Trade Center -- now just a 50-story tall skeleton of concrete and steel on the coastline of the capital Manama -- have become a symbol of this tiny Gulf island nation's drive to revive its reputation as a banking and commercial hub that rivals booming Dubai to the south.

To celebrate the construction, South Africa's Murray & Roberts Group was throwing a dinner-and-dance party on the Al-Dana, a tradition dhow sailboat turned into a pleasure boat, when the cruise turned to tragedy.

The vessel -- which Bahraini officials have said was licensed only as a floating restaurant nor for cruises -- capsized with 130 people on board Thursdsay night while taking a turn in the waters about a kilometer (half mile) off the Bahraini shore. Partygoers on the top deck were thrown into the water, while those on the lower deck were trapped inside.

Fifty-eight people died -- 16 of them top executives from Murray & Roberts and the British engineering firm Atkins, including the World Trade Center project director. The dead included 15 Britons and 22 Indians as well as nationals from South Africa, Pakistan, the Philippines, Ireland, Germany and South Korea.

The head of Bahrain's prosecutors office, Osama al-Oofi, said Sunday that survivors told investigators that the vessel took ``a sharp turn to the right,'' sending material and passengers sliding to the side and causing the boat to lose its balance completely.

Work has stopped on the World Trade Center site since Friday. But Samir Nass, vice chairman and managing director of Nass Corp., a top partner in the construction, told The Associated Press the US$ 150 million (euro124 million) towers remain on schedule for completion in this year's third or fourth quarters.

The boat's captain, an Indian national, is in custody for questioning, and officials say he was not licensed to pilot the craft. Authorities are still searching for one person, a Philippine woman, missing from the accident, an Interior Ministry spokesman, Col. Tariq al-Hassan, said.